As the Smart City concept evolves, it necessarily incorporates more sustainability and inclusiveness features. In this context, the mobility of people is still one of the major challenges for cities. Among the most vulnerable group of citizens are the elderly, as they demand special requirements in the design of smart mobility. At the same time, smart cities’ technologies could be used to maintain their quality of life. From an architectural and sociological point of view, smart cities change the meaning and the use of public spaces, from physical meeting places to relational public spaces, in which humans use interposed technological means and information flows. This leads to the concept of Interconnected Public Spaces: a mixture of physical and virtual environments, generating interconnections at a planetary scale, that can be used to attract elderly people for collectively sharing experiences outdoor in public spaces (parks, squares or bus stops, in any city on our planet), increasing their physical form and stimulating them mentally, socially and emotionally. This paper describes the development of an inclusive smart bus stop prototype and the use of its ICT infrastructure to build Interconnected Public Spaces.

Urban mobility optimization problem has a great focus in the context of Smart cities. To its solution a very important factor is the transport demand, which is mostly inferred using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence techniques from Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) and mobile devices data. In this paper a novel approach, based on Transport Demand Management techniques is proposed, using technology to produce a more active social involvement in the planning and optimization of mobility. This paper describes, a first step to this long-term objective, the general architecture and current implementation of an explicit multi-modal transport demand system for Smart Cities, which is being developed in the frame of MUSA—I project in the city of Madrid.

Ecological design is crucial in shaping contemporary, resilient, and livable cities. The Santa Cruz de Tenerife Refinery, a prominent landmark in the Mid-Atlantic, serves as an exemplary case study for understanding advanced metropolitan processes and integrating trans-scalar, transdisciplinary, and nature-based solutions (NBS) practices into urban contexts. This article explores the challenges of transforming obsolete industrial areas, including the refinery’s decommissioning process, its port, and industrial heritage value, and their relationship with the sea, into vibrant urban cores. It examines innovative strategies for land use, decontamination, and urban resilience, which are vital for fostering adaptability and recovery from natural and anthropogenic disasters. By emphasizing the refinery’s connection to Santa Cruz de Tenerife and its metropolitan area, as well as its coastal interface, this study proposes a comprehensive methodology to assess the territorial impacts of urban processes and guide project decisions toward enhancing the quality of life for the region’s residents.

Smart furniture (smart cities) can provide publicity, mobility services and local government communication, among many other services; however, its use for improving the quality of life of the elderly (extended IP-spaces concept) can be further researched. This paper describes the first step in a collaborative design of a smart city platform based on this concept. This design requires a layered design, as it includes architectonic, artistic, technological and social aspects. Participatory design (PD) and participatory action research (PAR) methodologies were selected to include the elderly in the design to ensure the acceptance and usability of the system. During this specific design process, three groups of elderly people from three geographic points of Spain were recruited. PD was applied to capture the users’ preferences and general specifications regarding the architectonic aspect of the project, while PAR was used to capture these groups’ quality-of-life needs, determine the initial acceptance of the project and define the initial activities to be realized for mitigating the detected needs. The application of these qualitative methodologies should produce a user-centric, valuable but local (specific) design. As more groups and towns will be involved, the new local designs will build a bigger set of validated solutions that potentially could be customized and reused for other contexts.

During the day of October 7-8, the congress has invited experts from the sector of Smart Cities to organize a sectoral debate. This debate will be composed of prestigious companies in the sector, Public Administration, as well as specialized consultants. The aim is to give a business point of view around Smart Cities. CYTED is the Ibero-American Program of Science and Technology for Development, created by the governments of Ibero-American countries to promote cooperation on issues of science, technology and innovation for the harmonious development of Ibero-America. CYTED achieves its objectives through different financing instruments that mobilize Ibero-American entrepreneurs, researchers and experts and allow them to be trained and generate joint research, development and innovation projects. Thus, the countries that make up the CYTED Program are able to keep up to date with the most recent advances and scientific-technological developments.